The British police on Monday said that it would investigate a Pakistani-born actor’s anti-India rant on social media as a possible hate crime even as the Coronation Street star apologised for the “unacceptable” language.
Marc Anwar, who was sacked on Sunday from one of Britain’s longest-running television soap operas after a series of “racially offensive” tweets, will be investigated by Greater Manchester Police.
“On Sunday 25 September, 2016 the police received a report of a hate crime. The police has launched an investigation and inquiries are ongoing,” a Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said. The 45-year-old, who played a key Muslim character of Sharif Nazir on Coronation Street, on Monday apologised for his Twitter rant.
“I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to anyone that I may have offended with my tweets on Friday evening and especially people from India,” he said in a video apology.”
“This was never my intention and the language was unacceptable. I feel that I have let a lot of people down, my family, my friends and my former colleagues. This I very sincerely apologise for,” he said. The Sunday Mirror had published screenshots of messages posted on Anwar’s private Twitter account which appeared to hit out at India over Kashmir and referred to Indian people as “b*****ds” and “p***-drinking c***s”.
Speaking to BBC on Monday, Anwar said his Twitter account was private at the time the tweets were posted and he had not expected them to be widely read. “My Twitter account was private because I didn’t want to engage with anybody I’m not a bigot, not a coward and not a liar. I’m definitely not a racist,” he told BBC. ITV channel had issued a statement after being alerted to the messages by the newspaper: “We are deeply shocked by the entirely unacceptable, racially offensive comments made on Twitter by Marc Anwar.”
